“I don’t know what the plans are,” Magner said. “But basically, in a nutshell, we will be able to operate in this location into summer 2013 and we will be trying to put a deal together and look for a new location.” Magner worked at Blimpy Burger in 1969 when he was a student. After working in other restaurants, he returned to Blimpy Burger and purchased the business in 1993.

Finding a place on campus is gonna be tough. For anyone who ever lived on the south side of campus, having the answer to your hangover just a few blocks away was the most important thing.

How did we figure this out? There are four burger sizes, six cheeses (you can order all of them, some of them, or no cheese at all), four different bun types, nine different grilled items (you can get all, some, or none of them) and twelve different condiments (again you can get all, some, or none). So, according to noted Blimpy Addict Will G. -- roommate of former Blimpy staff -- the number of combinations is equal to:

6

9

12

(

)

(

)

(

)

∑

∑

∑

4 x

6

x 4 x

9

x

12

c

g

n

c=0

g=0

n=0

("c" is for cheese, "g" is for grilled items, and "n" is for condiments)
Using Matlab the following code will evaluate the expression:
>> v=0
>> for c=0:6
for g=0:9
for n=0:12
s=4*(factorial(6)/factorial(6-c)*factorial(c)));
t=4*(factorial(9)/factorial(9-g)*factorial(g)));
u=(factorial(12)/factorial(12-n)*factorial(n)));
v=v+(s*t*u);
end
end
end
>>sym(v,'d')
ans=2,147,483,648

"Commuters on County Road 6 may experience some delays on their way home today, as it appears the entire side of Signal Hill has fallen onto the road. Alternate routes are advised. Helen, back to you."

What in the hell does the University need to put on THAT corner? The health system is making 10% cuts across the board because they've bungled the finances, and the school is buying like there's no tomorrow.

The health system is one of the most inefficient medical systems in the country in terms of fundraising, which is why those folks need those kinds of cuts. The University kind of lets them operate on their own turf, which has its downsides. Those folks need to clean house and learn how to raise money properly. They have the facilties, they have the experts- now they need to learn how to pay for them.

I hate the need to buy up all the property in Ann Arbor- when I was a student and a few years after I could see the need, but at this point it is feeling a bit sprawling. The best thing about Ann Arbor is the city/university interplay. If it becomes all university it takes away what made my experience unique, and what I think makes Ann Arbor such a wonderful place to live.

Doubt it's athletic. The administration building is really close to there so I expect something associated with that. I think one of the tenants of the (Chris) Perry building has wanted out for a long time.

It's likely going to be office space. First Martin owns most of the property around it - one of the last designs I did before I moved to management was an estimate to relocate some of the facilities right around Crazy Jim's, and the folks I talked to had plans to make this part of the ISR improvements potentially, but perhaps build an independent structure. They weren't sure at that time, but they were definitely interested in the property.

I also designed the steel poles at the intersection there - I put those there because they would last, (and the city wanted a gateway type look to our lines), as I thought Blimpy Burger would last. This is a shame to hear.

If the U (and some state leaders) really had some vision say 10-15 years ago, they could've done a 2nd campus in Detroit. And maybe that could've spurred a high-speed rail connection between the two with a stop at metro airport.

Instead we get A2 slowly being squeezed as everything unique & quirky gets crushed by the U. and it's related interests. Really kind of a shame what might have been.

This has been the refrain in A2 for years; the fact is, a lot of these unique places just don't make enough money for their location. Anyone remember the old Not Another Cafe establishment next to the Maize N Blue Deli? Nice idea, except it made no money. Now it's leased office space because no business could make the space work.

People can't afford them, but they can afford to overprice the property because if they lay empty they write it off till the University is willing to pay way over value and they make a killing on their investment.

I feel like Blimpy has been struggling post Crazy Jim. I remember in the early 2000s when I lived in SQuad, I practically lived on Blimpy for awhile. Ever since Magner took over though it seems like their business has fallen off. I remember during lunch hours in the warm weather you got there early or you stood for half an hour, now there is less of a line. One Friday in June there was no line, which was just plain surreal.

I also have to say it seems like sometime over the past two or three years, quality has also fallen off slightly. Either that or I've just been going at times when there are bad line cooks. The past few times I've gone the food has been inferior to Five Guys. Hopefully they can cut a deal to move in somewhere and recover.

I blame cholesterol tests. I got pissed when my last blood test showed elevated cholesterol and triglycerides. Then I realized it was all my fault for living off of blimpy and BTB. Even marathon running couldn't clean my arteries of Krazy Jim's.

in comparison to 5 Guys? More importantly, have the prices risen much in the past couple of years? That could be a reason for the reduction in quality you notice. I know that rising corn prices have helped increase beef prices across the board (i.e- for all cuts of beef, not just tenderloin or sirloin). I was just talking to the manger of the meat dept at my local Giant Eagle and he told me that prices on red meat have seen an average increase of 30% across the board in the last year alone.

Maybe they figure what with having so many budget minded college students around, they were better off maintaining prices and sacrificing some quality in the process.

My father in law (who was a deli owner/ baker for 30 some odd years) said one of the reasons he decided to bail was because of the meteoric rise of flour prices. He said he could have raised prices or started skimping, but after 30 plus years, he just decided to pull the eject handle, rather than let his legacy suffer at the end due to reduced quality standards.

The restaurant business is tough, even for the "institutions"

As an aside- are we done with stories about travels through Korea? I found those very entertaining. You spin quite a yarn, sir.

I normally pay about a dollar fifty less at Blimpy than I do at Five Guys, but at FG I get fries. Blimpy is just for the burger and soda. That definitely could be part of it. If you load up a Blimpy you can easily blow by FG prices. I think you're on to something with the meat though. These days it comes outs so dry at Blimpie.

I have a couple China stories actually in the back from my honeymoon and I might go with them in the offseason. Also I'm going to Korea in January which will give me plenty of chances to do stupid shit and generate new fodder. I tend to wait until the board is dead to post though. If the diary section starts to die off after Signing Day and/or the NCAA tourney I'll write something up. Right now though we have a lot of on topic diaries and I don't want to be bumping real content. I'm more of the monkey rodeo during the 7th inning stretch thing.

Don't order bo-shin-tang from a hole-in-the-wall in Seoul. Do eat all the Ho-dduk you find when walking on the street. Perfect for 'brisk' winter days.

Last time I went to Blimpy's, I thought it was ok, not great. Had a triple with cheese and a fried egg. Just didn't seem to be the same (probably because I wasn't 20, drunk, and high). I would compare it to a Royal Red Robin, minus the screaming kids with balloons.

A bigger question is, will that ground qualify for a EPA brownfield grant due to the decades of grease that has been building up there.

Dang....another piece of my college experience about to go. To put it in perspective when I was on campus I was a bouncer at the Village Bell, used to drink at Dooley's and then eat off the hangover at either Blimpie's or bfast at Angelos. And you used to take your dates to the Prretzel Bell cause it was nice and not that expensive.

Oh yes and Bo was coaching.

Next thing you know their going to change the AA law whereby possession of less than 2 ounces of pot is a $5.00 fine. I'm sure that'll never happen though......

They just opened one of those in Toledo, right by the UT campus. It'll be interesting to see if they can again prey on the college crowd. My guess would be failure because there's actually a large number of authentic middle eastern resturants in Toledo. None quite that close to campus, though.

Wasn't it the Nectarine Ballroom? How about Steve's Lunch, Drake's, Pizza House when it was just a little frame house, and Zingerman's as a one building restaurant with three tables in the front window?

Lol true story - the Zingerman's crew painted our house when they were just starting out (that was their day job at the time). Then my dad used to bring them their bread every day from Farmington until the daily order got to be too much for him to stick in the back of the Taurus.

I read about Blimpy's earlier today on Facebook. From a similar source, I've heard that the University has plans to demolish the Ruthven Natural History Museum and build a large biology building in its place. A merger of "two biology departments" would follow.

Does anyone here have know anything solid about that? The only things I've been able to find online mention muesum renovations, the demolition of some med school buildings, and the acquisition of the Pfizer campus.

...lots of memories on this thread. Another thing that I have a hard time fathoming is the closure of all the record stores. It used to be one of my favorite ways to kill an hour between classes by browsing through music and magazines.

So weird to think that the kids in school today are missing out on so much only to have it replaced by facebook & twitter.

...I used to love hanging out at Tower, Wherehouse, and Wazoo between classes, or going down to get the hot new releases at midnight. The best part was that all three stores had their own unique character and space to hang out in. It also sucks that the Borders at Liberty and Maynard is gone. I used to love hanging out there as well.

For me it was a quint, bacon, egg, provolone, onion roll, lettuce, onion, tomato, dijon, ketchup. Also had to have the fried veggies with cocktail sauce and a root beer. I must have a strong stomach because I never had digestive issues eating this once a week.

I just took my seven year old son there for the first time this season. He thought it was perfectly reasonable to wait in line 45 minutes for the burger he got. I had another generation converted.

His was a double with cheese and ketchup, mine was a triple with bacon, egg, jalepeno, banana peppers, lettuce, tomato, and ketchup. I got the onion rings; he got the fries and we shared. And he got his own bottle of root beer. Perfect end to a great day.

I ate at Blimpy maybe three times in two years at AA... I had to intentionally avoid it or else I'd have gained 200 pounds because it's so great

depressing as hell to see it move. a downtown location could be good for them, though, it would help them capitalize on all of the TV attention they've gotten from townies and people in the city to shop.